Transfers tomorrow.
On Wednesday our mission president called a "mission companionship study". I think this is the only mission in the world that could, the day before, call all the missionaries, tell them to bike to the mission office by 9:15 am, and have an hour and a half mission study. It was on obedience. Apparently some missionaries are having some pretty bad problems. While it might not have been directed at us, there were a couple things E Davidson and I found we could improve on.
And boy were we blessed for doing those things. We hit almost every single one of our goals this week. It was insane. Just one by one, accomplish, focus on the next, focus on next, boom boom boom. Goal setting is so important. When you prayerfully set feasible goals, the Lord will help you hit them. I know that now. Such a productive week.
but...
Things around here are CRAZY at transfer time. The amount of new missionaries coming in is absolutely enormous, so right now 70% of the mission is either training or being trained. It's a "mission president's nightmare". 14 more are coming in tomorrow. So what does that mean for me and my district?
We got a call Monday afternoon saying that Elder Davidson is going to be training again. Someone new. And he'll be district leader. He's staying here in this area, they're splitting the current area in half, and he'll be DL over his half as well as training a new guy. I'm getting sent over to Murray Parkway Stake with a guy named Elder Slade. Nobody knows who he is, not even the ZLs in my area, and they've been out a while. I'm a little scared. Either he's really "shady" or he's really run-of-the-mill. Doesn't really matter though - hopefully I'll be able to have more chances to talk with this new companion...
It's still super sad to lose the area. Such a great place with so many nice people. We'll see how it works out. I'm sure it will. Still doesn't keep me from wondering though.
One of the elders in my district was talking to a member family, and they told him the sky is blue because JC is a BYU fan. He promptly informed them that, while that might be true, he did bleed red... the nature of the holy war, I guess.
--Elder Chandler
--------------------------------------------
Thought: Importance of missionary work
The active members need a pep talk here. Tracting is SO unproductive around here. I mean I know it's never a good way percentage-wise, but running into less active members every other house is pretty dumb since lessons with them don't really count for much. It's lame.
This week I've been working on a PMG-style lesson on the importance of the commandment of missionary work. The basic outline is:
- Blessings from being a member of the church
- A life without those blessings
- The Restoration
- Blessings from accessing the Atonement
- A life without those blessings
- The Atonement
- The commandment of missionary work
- We have heavenly help
- goals and follow up
I then commit them to prayerfully consider one person they know that will benefit from hearing our message, prayerfully and actively strive to help this person come closer to Christ, and to set a goal on the date that person will be ready for the missionaries to stop by.
I shared this in a marginally-completed form with Elder Davidson and he decided we'd give it a try. The Comp study we started trying to get it down, the Zone Leaders decided to surprise us by stopping by! So we roleplayed the lesson to them. It's powerful. It works. They complemented the lesson plan, provided some great insights on how to make it better, and since then we've been using it with a goal of one active member family a day. That way it doesn't steal from our investigator's time, but we still can use it as a finding method.
My favorite part of the lesson is "A life without the blessings of the Atonement". What a dreary life that would be. The discreptency between a life with and without it is so stark in contrast that the imprint you can portray in member's minds is phenomenal. To think people go about without knowledge of the greatest blessing we have on this earth is unthinkable, and makes missionary work that much more important. (When I teach this to them, I can play it up a ton. Diamond on black velvet. The spirit testifies of the Atonement so strong.) And so I'd like to share what I have written as the main point in the lesson, Missionary Work is a Commandment.
Missionary Work is a Commandment
Missionary work is the most important calling that we have been given as members of the church. After converting our own selves to the gospel of Jesus Christ, it becomes natural to share that source of happiness with others. Heavenly Father, through His holy prophets in all dispensations, has commanded us to share His gospel to all the inhabitants of the world. As we share the gospel, we appreciate how precious and meaningful it is to us, and we feel a greater love for God and others.
It's very much patterned after PMG.
Missionary work is the most important calling that we have been given as members of the church.
"After all that has been said, the greatest and most important duty is to preach the Gospel"
(Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, sel. Joseph Fielding Smith [1976], 113)
After converting our own selves to the gospel of Jesus Christ, it becomes natural to share that source of happiness with others.
"We have a mission in the world: each man, each woman, each child who has grown to undersanding or to the years of accountability, ought... to be qualified to preach the truth, to bear testimony of the truth."
(Gospel Doctrine, 13th ed. [1968], 251-252)
Heavenly Father, through His holy prophets in all dispensations, has commanded us to share His gospel to all the inhabitants of the world.
Scripture Study
Mosiah 2:27, 30
John 21:15-17
Alma 5:60-62
Mosiah 28:3
As we share the gospel, we appreciate how precious and meaningful it is to us, and we feel a greater love for God and others.
"Member-missionary work is one of the great keys to the individual growth of our members. It is my conviction that member-missionary work will raise the spirituality in any ward where applied"
(Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, 208-9)
So, basically this is super important stuff. Awesome. To sum it up I'll quote one more by Gordon B. Hinckley:
"We are here to assist our Father in His work and His glory, 'to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man' (Moses 1:39). Your obligation is as serious in your sphere of responsibility as is my obligation in my sphere"
(Gordon B. Hinckley in Conference Report, Apr. 1995, 94)
I hope my new companion will let us use this also. While everything must stay in balance, there's no reason members can't have a 20-25 minute lesson with the intent of finding solid people to teach that have been prepared through constant prayer and action by the members in the different wards. Project: Rocky Mountain Revival.
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Letter 8-21-2012
hi.
We've been so busy this week. While we didn't have many lessons set up, we were able to walk into lessons a ton. We ended up with a total of 8 lessons to investigators this week, picked up 4 new investigators, had 5 investigators at church, and have someone being baptized this coming Sunday. Even yesterday, where we had no lessons planned, we ended up teaching 2 strong less-active lessons and a lesson to an investigator. We're picking up speed. 32 strong potential investigators that we have contact with, with 7 progressing. Hopefully I'll fix my numbers so by next month I'll have baptized weekly!
A ton of things happen while on the mission, but I guess one that stands out this week was when we were visiting with an investigator. She knows her bible really well and has the strongest faith in Christ. She isn't able to move very well though because of her weight and missing cartilage in her knees. She's in the bottom of an apartment, about 5 steps down a stairwell. We were talking in the stairwell, letting her get some fresh air, when she told us those 5 stairs look like the mountains to her (with the mountains in the background). I found myself thinking of Joshua and the advice the Lord gave him to be of strong and good courage in Joshua 1:9. I read the scripture, and we spotted her as she, step by step with just a walker (usually she's confined to an automatic wheelchair) climbed those 5 steps. It was pretty remarkable. After sitting a while at the top of the flight, she made the journey down. It was pretty remarkable - she hasn't climbed those steps in months and months. Hopefully this is one of the first steps to getting her to church, and eventually to make the commitment to baptism.
I fixed my bike. I like fixing bikes. I thought you knew I was an engineer mind? :) It's really quite fun to mess around with it. I picked it up pretty fast and now can do a slew of things that will help me out. I filleted my old, full of holes innertubes and lined my tires with them. I then picked up some special "green slime" innertubes and put them in my bike. I'd like to see a thorn get through them now. Needless to say I haven't had any problems this week with flats, and probably won't for at least a year.
Have a good week,
--E Chandler
Topic this week: Christ's seed
I finished King Benjamin's speech and had great insights on it about penitence, giving to the poor, the call for all to do missionary work (Mosiah 2:27: commanded to speak unto YOU), but what really it me hardest was Abinadi's talk, specifically in Mosiah 12-16.
It starts off with a funny verse stating he "came among them in disguise, that they knew him not". He began to prophesy, and the first thing he says is his name. I just picture him pulling a Perry and, after saying his name, "...oops."
It's all about condemning the wicked priests of King Noah for hypocritically teaching - but not living - the law of Moses. He goes on to speak about how the law is a type of Christ, how the strict laws were to "keep them in remembrance of God and their duty towards him", and how all prophets prophesied of Christ (even if they're speakings were taken out of the Bible). Some phrases he (and Isaiah) used that I like a lot, but don't really warrent discussion:
"he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed."
"he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep befor her shearers is dumb so he opened not his mouth."
Mosiah 14:10-11 are really, really interesting to me though. After Isaiah has prophesied of Christ, he uses the phrase "Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him [Satan]; he hath put him to grief". That phrase "bruised him" reminded me of Genesis 3, where it is said that though the serpent may bruise man's heal, it is through the woman that the serpent's head will be crushed. "It shall bruise they head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." (It wasn't until after that I saw Genesis 3:15 as a footnote as well). Though Satan bruised our heel when he tempted Eve and Adam to partake of the fruit, Christ will be there to fully heal that bruise on the heel then, in the millenium, stomp him out once and for all. It then goes on to state how, after Christ made his soul an offering for sin, he would see 5 things:
1) "see his seed"
2) "prolong his days"
3) "pleasure of the Lord will prosper in his hands"
4) "see the travail of his seed"
5) "shall be satisfied"
( 6) by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he will bear their iniquities)
What does it mean though for Christ to "see his seed"? Of course it can't mean that he had children. Luckily, Abinadi takes the next chapter to explain Isaiah clearly to those priests, and to hold them accountable for the sins they were permitting and taking advantage of.
First, he explains the nature of the Godhead, which is super important and I learned a lot about it here, but the main point is that their purpose is one. Their will is one. The spirit connects it all. The coolest verse I think I've ever read about the atonement then comes in the form of Mosiah 15:9:
"Having ascended into heaven, having the bowles of mercy; being filled with compassion towards the children of men; standing betwixt them and justice; having broken the bands of death, taken upon himself their iniquity and their transgressions, having redeemed them, and satisfied the demands of justice."
Cool. "And who shall be his seed?"
Abinadi states that those who belived that the Lord would redeem them and looked forward to a remission of their sins are the heirs of the kingdom of God. This is a pattern I keep picking up on. The plan of salvation is always boiled down to two key elements. (1) Know that only through Christ are you saved, and (2) through this humility approach life, and always act like (1) is true. It appears everywhere. It's the Gospel of Jesus Christ in its simplist form. And so it is them who will be Christ's seed. But still, why is the word seed used? And it is in verse 12 that one of the coolest word plays I've seen in the scriptures is used:
"For these are they whose sins he has borne; these are they for whom he has died, to redeem them from their transgressions. And now are they not his seed?"
Remember, this is an oral speech. The use of the word borne is, wow, wow, wow. Jesus Christ literally bore our sins in the garden. Every one of them. He has borne every single one of them from each of us. And through his sacrifice can we be "born again" into the kingdom of God. We can be his seed. And it is only by being as children, as children of Christ, that we can be saved.
So yeah, that was cool to me. Have a good day.
We've been so busy this week. While we didn't have many lessons set up, we were able to walk into lessons a ton. We ended up with a total of 8 lessons to investigators this week, picked up 4 new investigators, had 5 investigators at church, and have someone being baptized this coming Sunday. Even yesterday, where we had no lessons planned, we ended up teaching 2 strong less-active lessons and a lesson to an investigator. We're picking up speed. 32 strong potential investigators that we have contact with, with 7 progressing. Hopefully I'll fix my numbers so by next month I'll have baptized weekly!
A ton of things happen while on the mission, but I guess one that stands out this week was when we were visiting with an investigator. She knows her bible really well and has the strongest faith in Christ. She isn't able to move very well though because of her weight and missing cartilage in her knees. She's in the bottom of an apartment, about 5 steps down a stairwell. We were talking in the stairwell, letting her get some fresh air, when she told us those 5 stairs look like the mountains to her (with the mountains in the background). I found myself thinking of Joshua and the advice the Lord gave him to be of strong and good courage in Joshua 1:9. I read the scripture, and we spotted her as she, step by step with just a walker (usually she's confined to an automatic wheelchair) climbed those 5 steps. It was pretty remarkable. After sitting a while at the top of the flight, she made the journey down. It was pretty remarkable - she hasn't climbed those steps in months and months. Hopefully this is one of the first steps to getting her to church, and eventually to make the commitment to baptism.
I fixed my bike. I like fixing bikes. I thought you knew I was an engineer mind? :) It's really quite fun to mess around with it. I picked it up pretty fast and now can do a slew of things that will help me out. I filleted my old, full of holes innertubes and lined my tires with them. I then picked up some special "green slime" innertubes and put them in my bike. I'd like to see a thorn get through them now. Needless to say I haven't had any problems this week with flats, and probably won't for at least a year.
Have a good week,
--E Chandler
Topic this week: Christ's seed
I finished King Benjamin's speech and had great insights on it about penitence, giving to the poor, the call for all to do missionary work (Mosiah 2:27: commanded to speak unto YOU), but what really it me hardest was Abinadi's talk, specifically in Mosiah 12-16.
It starts off with a funny verse stating he "came among them in disguise, that they knew him not". He began to prophesy, and the first thing he says is his name. I just picture him pulling a Perry and, after saying his name, "...oops."
It's all about condemning the wicked priests of King Noah for hypocritically teaching - but not living - the law of Moses. He goes on to speak about how the law is a type of Christ, how the strict laws were to "keep them in remembrance of God and their duty towards him", and how all prophets prophesied of Christ (even if they're speakings were taken out of the Bible). Some phrases he (and Isaiah) used that I like a lot, but don't really warrent discussion:
"he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed."
"he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep befor her shearers is dumb so he opened not his mouth."
Mosiah 14:10-11 are really, really interesting to me though. After Isaiah has prophesied of Christ, he uses the phrase "Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him [Satan]; he hath put him to grief". That phrase "bruised him" reminded me of Genesis 3, where it is said that though the serpent may bruise man's heal, it is through the woman that the serpent's head will be crushed. "It shall bruise they head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." (It wasn't until after that I saw Genesis 3:15 as a footnote as well). Though Satan bruised our heel when he tempted Eve and Adam to partake of the fruit, Christ will be there to fully heal that bruise on the heel then, in the millenium, stomp him out once and for all. It then goes on to state how, after Christ made his soul an offering for sin, he would see 5 things:
1) "see his seed"
2) "prolong his days"
3) "pleasure of the Lord will prosper in his hands"
4) "see the travail of his seed"
5) "shall be satisfied"
( 6) by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he will bear their iniquities)
What does it mean though for Christ to "see his seed"? Of course it can't mean that he had children. Luckily, Abinadi takes the next chapter to explain Isaiah clearly to those priests, and to hold them accountable for the sins they were permitting and taking advantage of.
First, he explains the nature of the Godhead, which is super important and I learned a lot about it here, but the main point is that their purpose is one. Their will is one. The spirit connects it all. The coolest verse I think I've ever read about the atonement then comes in the form of Mosiah 15:9:
"Having ascended into heaven, having the bowles of mercy; being filled with compassion towards the children of men; standing betwixt them and justice; having broken the bands of death, taken upon himself their iniquity and their transgressions, having redeemed them, and satisfied the demands of justice."
Cool. "And who shall be his seed?"
Abinadi states that those who belived that the Lord would redeem them and looked forward to a remission of their sins are the heirs of the kingdom of God. This is a pattern I keep picking up on. The plan of salvation is always boiled down to two key elements. (1) Know that only through Christ are you saved, and (2) through this humility approach life, and always act like (1) is true. It appears everywhere. It's the Gospel of Jesus Christ in its simplist form. And so it is them who will be Christ's seed. But still, why is the word seed used? And it is in verse 12 that one of the coolest word plays I've seen in the scriptures is used:
"For these are they whose sins he has borne; these are they for whom he has died, to redeem them from their transgressions. And now are they not his seed?"
Remember, this is an oral speech. The use of the word borne is, wow, wow, wow. Jesus Christ literally bore our sins in the garden. Every one of them. He has borne every single one of them from each of us. And through his sacrifice can we be "born again" into the kingdom of God. We can be his seed. And it is only by being as children, as children of Christ, that we can be saved.
So yeah, that was cool to me. Have a good day.
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
Letter 8-14-2012
Hiya,
This week has been an adventure. We've worked really hard to get into the houses of those potentials that we really believe will be able to accept the invitation to be baptized. Sadly though, we've still had quite a bit of trouble getting inside the homes. All of these potentials are new move-ins. They need time to get settled. I understand that feeling, but the first thing that we always did after moving in was to go to church that first Sunday. Getting to know the ward is invaluable in getting accustomed to a move. If only they could understand just how important that is we would have 5 baptisms this month. Instead we have one scheduled for the 31st.
That one baptism is really great though. So much of what we do is completing families. This specific case, a single mother moved in with her two children, a boy age 13 and a girl age 11. The boy has been baptized, but the girl hasn't. The family was active in their ward before they moved. We met them when, as going through their apartment complex, the boy came up to us and said, "my sister needs to be baptized". He's awesome, super knowledgeable as a 13 year old and really seems to have stepped up to the plate as the only priesthood holder in his house. The mom works a ton though and the place she works is understaffed, but she has committed firmly to us she will be at church this next Sunday with her family to prepare for her daughter's baptism on that Friday the 31st. Other than that we're just going to keep working on getting into homes and finding people that actually will let us in their home.
The "month of perfection" stats are rolling in. Some wards did a lot better than the others. The 6th ward especially made a google doc that's really nicely organized. They have a whopping 26 names of part member families for us to work with. I feel so at home pouring over these sheets and finding out what they say. The wards that did this well are so awesome. The work to do it was insane. But these excel/google docs are invaluable, I think more to me than others. Yum, charts. So we should have a lot of work to do the next couple months.
--Elder Chandler
Thought of the week: justification
After thinking about grace a lot last week and deciding it is the most foundational doctrine out of any of them, I have decided that my study of the BoM is going to focus on the atoning power of Christ. I'm reading it through from the beginning (I'm on Mosiah 2 and stuck there, not because I'm discouraged but because I've now spent two days in it cross referencing. No doubt Mosiah 2-4 are my favorite chapters in the BoM) and as I go through I'm really looking for grace things. I have plenty of time to think about "deeper" things later on in my mission and my life, but I feel it's important to make that foundation first, for, as it says in Jacob 4:12, "why not speak of the atonement of Christ, and attain to a perfect knowledge of him, as to attain to the knowledge of a resurrection and the world to come?". So from there will I start.
Even so, I still get led to different paths from personal revelation.
To be justified is directly related to being saved by grace. True, it is through grace we are saved. But we do have work to do, and that is, said simply, to "reconcile our will to God". (2 Ne 10:24) The judgement is central to being saved. We are brought to the judgement bar because of Christ. That is manifested because little children "by nature, they fall, even so the blood of Christ atoneth for their sins." (Mosiah 3:16) What's the difference between children and adults as far as the judgement goes? Accountability for things that we know are true.
So by two things are we justified before Christ at the judgement bar:
1) Christ's Atonement and the mediation that occurred there
2) Submitting our will to the father, and through the Doctrine of Christ, making up for when we don't follow our fathers will. (PMG lesson 3, AoF 4)
Small refresher; the Doctrine of Christ consists of faith, repentance, baptism, holy ghost, and enduring to the end (which is really just a conglomeration of the other four)
Here's a nice little scripture chain for all of you:
Romans 3:28
Romans 5:9
Romans 2:13
Moses 6:60 (I think this is my favorite scripture on my mission as of now)
Romans is an amazing chapter on how we will be justified to enter the Celestial Kingdom at the judgement bar. Paul says in 3:28 that by faith we would be justified, except that because all of us transgress the law more is required. 5:9 states that, because of such, we are justified by the blood of Christ. Taking advantage of this is the process of repenting. So we would be justified by faith, but because we sin we must also be justified by repentance.
The bar is higher than that though. 2:13 says that doers of the law are justified, not the hearers of the word. Doing means keeping the commandments as well as remembering to do the first two steps in submitting our will to God. Baptism is a commandment we all must do, as stated in the first part of Moses 6:60. The second part is that we are justified by the holy ghost. I believe the use of the word here is a bit different though, and I find this very insightful.
Before, the use of justified is to, in God's sight, be justified to enter into the CK. The Spirit, though, can justify to us whether we are worth to enter into the kingdom. It is why the wicked will feel they aren't worthy. It's why the righteous will know that the savior has come again. For, "having a perfect knowledge... we shall have a perfect knowledge of our guilt... and a perfect knowledge of [our] enjoyment". (2 Ne 9:13-14) The judgement comes before the judgement based on the perfect knowledge the Spirit gives us, the truth it testifies of. True or false. That's the only answer it can give. In programming we call this a "boolean" value. False, true. 0, 1. Simple. "For the Spirit speaketh the truth and lieth not. Wherefore, it speaketh of things as they really are, and as they really will be; wherefore, these things are manifested unto us plainly, for the salvation of our souls." (Jacob 4:13) We are truly justified by the Spirit. (I have a lot more to say on the spirit and more scriptures and stuff about God being a master programmer but this is all that really matters as far as the justification discussion. Maybe another day.)
By following the DoC we will endure to the end - having faith that Jesus is there, repenting to take advantage of the atonement, following the Lord's commandments including baptism, receiving and heeding the spirit and the direction it takes us (always aligned with the will of God, for it IS the will of God) - and stand justified before Christ at the judgement bar. What a great feeling that will be to know that we, in the premortal existence, fought with Michael against the dragon, emerged victorious, and sustained Christ as our Savior. What a great feeling it will be to know "as much then as a do now" that Christ really did infinitely atone for all of our sins, that we not only knew that, but we took advantage of it through the Doctrine of Christ. What a great feeling it will be to stand at the judgement bar with Nephi, Jacob, and Moroni (2 Ne 33:11, Jacob 6:13, Moroni 10:34) and have the Spirit testify to them, to God, to you, that your life on earth returned "True".
This week has been an adventure. We've worked really hard to get into the houses of those potentials that we really believe will be able to accept the invitation to be baptized. Sadly though, we've still had quite a bit of trouble getting inside the homes. All of these potentials are new move-ins. They need time to get settled. I understand that feeling, but the first thing that we always did after moving in was to go to church that first Sunday. Getting to know the ward is invaluable in getting accustomed to a move. If only they could understand just how important that is we would have 5 baptisms this month. Instead we have one scheduled for the 31st.
That one baptism is really great though. So much of what we do is completing families. This specific case, a single mother moved in with her two children, a boy age 13 and a girl age 11. The boy has been baptized, but the girl hasn't. The family was active in their ward before they moved. We met them when, as going through their apartment complex, the boy came up to us and said, "my sister needs to be baptized". He's awesome, super knowledgeable as a 13 year old and really seems to have stepped up to the plate as the only priesthood holder in his house. The mom works a ton though and the place she works is understaffed, but she has committed firmly to us she will be at church this next Sunday with her family to prepare for her daughter's baptism on that Friday the 31st. Other than that we're just going to keep working on getting into homes and finding people that actually will let us in their home.
The "month of perfection" stats are rolling in. Some wards did a lot better than the others. The 6th ward especially made a google doc that's really nicely organized. They have a whopping 26 names of part member families for us to work with. I feel so at home pouring over these sheets and finding out what they say. The wards that did this well are so awesome. The work to do it was insane. But these excel/google docs are invaluable, I think more to me than others. Yum, charts. So we should have a lot of work to do the next couple months.
--Elder Chandler
Thought of the week: justification
After thinking about grace a lot last week and deciding it is the most foundational doctrine out of any of them, I have decided that my study of the BoM is going to focus on the atoning power of Christ. I'm reading it through from the beginning (I'm on Mosiah 2 and stuck there, not because I'm discouraged but because I've now spent two days in it cross referencing. No doubt Mosiah 2-4 are my favorite chapters in the BoM) and as I go through I'm really looking for grace things. I have plenty of time to think about "deeper" things later on in my mission and my life, but I feel it's important to make that foundation first, for, as it says in Jacob 4:12, "why not speak of the atonement of Christ, and attain to a perfect knowledge of him, as to attain to the knowledge of a resurrection and the world to come?". So from there will I start.
Even so, I still get led to different paths from personal revelation.
To be justified is directly related to being saved by grace. True, it is through grace we are saved. But we do have work to do, and that is, said simply, to "reconcile our will to God". (2 Ne 10:24) The judgement is central to being saved. We are brought to the judgement bar because of Christ. That is manifested because little children "by nature, they fall, even so the blood of Christ atoneth for their sins." (Mosiah 3:16) What's the difference between children and adults as far as the judgement goes? Accountability for things that we know are true.
So by two things are we justified before Christ at the judgement bar:
1) Christ's Atonement and the mediation that occurred there
2) Submitting our will to the father, and through the Doctrine of Christ, making up for when we don't follow our fathers will. (PMG lesson 3, AoF 4)
Small refresher; the Doctrine of Christ consists of faith, repentance, baptism, holy ghost, and enduring to the end (which is really just a conglomeration of the other four)
Here's a nice little scripture chain for all of you:
Romans 3:28
Romans 5:9
Romans 2:13
Moses 6:60 (I think this is my favorite scripture on my mission as of now)
Romans is an amazing chapter on how we will be justified to enter the Celestial Kingdom at the judgement bar. Paul says in 3:28 that by faith we would be justified, except that because all of us transgress the law more is required. 5:9 states that, because of such, we are justified by the blood of Christ. Taking advantage of this is the process of repenting. So we would be justified by faith, but because we sin we must also be justified by repentance.
The bar is higher than that though. 2:13 says that doers of the law are justified, not the hearers of the word. Doing means keeping the commandments as well as remembering to do the first two steps in submitting our will to God. Baptism is a commandment we all must do, as stated in the first part of Moses 6:60. The second part is that we are justified by the holy ghost. I believe the use of the word here is a bit different though, and I find this very insightful.
Before, the use of justified is to, in God's sight, be justified to enter into the CK. The Spirit, though, can justify to us whether we are worth to enter into the kingdom. It is why the wicked will feel they aren't worthy. It's why the righteous will know that the savior has come again. For, "having a perfect knowledge... we shall have a perfect knowledge of our guilt... and a perfect knowledge of [our] enjoyment". (2 Ne 9:13-14) The judgement comes before the judgement based on the perfect knowledge the Spirit gives us, the truth it testifies of. True or false. That's the only answer it can give. In programming we call this a "boolean" value. False, true. 0, 1. Simple. "For the Spirit speaketh the truth and lieth not. Wherefore, it speaketh of things as they really are, and as they really will be; wherefore, these things are manifested unto us plainly, for the salvation of our souls." (Jacob 4:13) We are truly justified by the Spirit. (I have a lot more to say on the spirit and more scriptures and stuff about God being a master programmer but this is all that really matters as far as the justification discussion. Maybe another day.)
By following the DoC we will endure to the end - having faith that Jesus is there, repenting to take advantage of the atonement, following the Lord's commandments including baptism, receiving and heeding the spirit and the direction it takes us (always aligned with the will of God, for it IS the will of God) - and stand justified before Christ at the judgement bar. What a great feeling that will be to know that we, in the premortal existence, fought with Michael against the dragon, emerged victorious, and sustained Christ as our Savior. What a great feeling it will be to know "as much then as a do now" that Christ really did infinitely atone for all of our sins, that we not only knew that, but we took advantage of it through the Doctrine of Christ. What a great feeling it will be to stand at the judgement bar with Nephi, Jacob, and Moroni (2 Ne 33:11, Jacob 6:13, Moroni 10:34) and have the Spirit testify to them, to God, to you, that your life on earth returned "True".
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
Letter 8-7-2012
Hello all,
It's been a slightly frustrating week. After the hustle and bustle of last week, we've been so quiet this week. We have two people on date for baptism right now - one for this month and one for next month. We have another six, yes six, people that we could put on date IF ONLY WE COULD GET IN THEIR HOUSE.
It's not their fault. There's a nasty sore-throat, runny nose, cough going around lately that's shut down a lot of our investigators and, lo and behold, even ourselves. E Davidson came down with it on Wednesday and he's been feeling awful even up to today. I got it a little bit but I guess I've been taught well. I drank a ton, ton, ton of water and I really only felt a little weak on fast Sunday. I think my headache was more dehydration than sickness that day. It's worth it if we can get in those six houses and put them all on date, though.
This last week we had two birthdays in our zone on Friday and Saturday. On Friday we went to Joe Morley's with the district and the zone leaders for the zone leader, Elder Wild's, birthday. Then on Saturday we went to Buco di Beppo for Sister Hermanson's. I think we've been there before? Confirmation? It's fun to get to know the district better like that. Elder Whipple from my MTC district is in my district here. He's awesome but has come down with a migraine ever since he got out in the field. Elder Livingston is a poly from Hawaii that's really fun to be around and shares my enthusiasm for how personable the scriptures are, so it's super fun to discuss those things with him.
The "month of perfection" ended. It's going to be fun to see the results pour in. I can't wait to dive into the charts they'll give us from the contact information to find people that are searching for a way to get a hold of the missionaries.
Have a swell week,
--Elder Chandler
Spiritual thought for this week - and it's an important one - is grace. Right before I left the MTC, one of my teachers told us we could ask her any question and she'd answer it. When we didn't have anything she taught the LDS doctrine of being saved by grace. She said it was the most misunderstood doctrine in the church. We believe that we are saved by grace alone, she said, and explained it. In my head I disagreed, wasn't really listening, and thought of what was the difference of getting to the celestial and terrestrial kingdoms - the covenants WE make. So that means we do have a part, right?
I kind of left that at the wayside until I ran across 2 Ne 25:23 and 2 Ne 10:24. One says we are saved by grace "after all we can do", while the other says, after our will becomes aligned with God, we are saved "only by the grace of God". I decided I needed to find out exactly how this doctrine works. The way to do this was to define "all we can do" specifically. 2 Ne 10:24 tells us that "all we can do" is to keep the commandments God gives us by reconciling our will to God's. In the MTC was caught in a trap of thinking that keeping the commandments counted as a "good point" and that we did something to get to highest glory. In Mosiah 2, King Benjamin rebukes this way of thinking. He says that when we follow the commandments, we're blessed so in the end that's a moot point. We are and always will be unprofitable servants. In essence with that statement he says we are saved by grace alone.
That turned my thinking upside-down. Keeping the commandments is the expectation, and not keeping them is a sin. Once we know of a commandment, we are then required to live it or suffer the punishment of sin. When we make sacred covenants, we add to that burden and have more required of us. It's the expectation, though, to make those covenants. The only thing we can do is repent. In the bible dictionary the definition of repentance conveniently fits my phraseology used; in the act of repentance we "align our will with God's". How is repentance made possible? Only through the infinite and eternal sacrifice that was the Atonement.
Because of the grace of God, everyone comes into life with 100%. We are to inherit the celestial kingdom. We don't, through our actions, qualify ourselves for the celestial kingdom. We disqualify ourselves from it. It is by accessing the infinite power of the Atonement we can overcome the fall and return to our Father in Heaven. Getting baptized doesn't qualify us for the Celestial kingdom - not getting baptized disqualifies us from it. As missionaries, our purpose is to extend the invitation to be baptized and let others use their agency to either meet their eternal expectations or to find that a "change of heart" to reconcile their will with God's is in order. Benjamin implores us to follow this mindset in Mosiah 2. All in all, neither is wrong. It's valid to say we are saved by grace along, for it is grace which allows us to do "all we can do". But, it is our job to reconcile our will to God through the process of continual repentance, which is truly and action that we must do.
This is the theory that explains it all. The base of everything is the Atonement as far as we are concerned on this Earth. I picture a massive (infinite) bubble on the top of a bubble chart that is the Atonement and Christ's sacrifice. It is from this every other doctrine stems. Every prophet without exception teaches the doctrine of repentence, of reconciling our will to God's, of the only thing we can do on this life that really pertains to our eternal salvation personally. It's from this standpoint I think that everything else will become more clear.
I'll save more that I've thought of for next week, but there is more :)
Just as an add-on to what I said and more about the spirit:
Because of the grace of God, everyone comes into life with 100%. We are to inherit the celestial kingdom. We don't, through our actions, qualify ourselves for the celestial kingdom. We disqualify ourselves from it. It is by accessing the infinite power of the Atonement we can overcome the fall and return to our Father in Heaven. Getting baptized doesn't qualify us for the Celestial kingdom - not getting baptized disqualifies us from it. As missionaries, our purpose is to extend the invitation to be baptized and let others use their agency to either meet their eternal expectations or to find that a "change of heart" to reconcile their will with God's is in order. Benjamin implores us to follow this mindset in Mosiah 2. All in all, neither is wrong. It's valid to say we are saved by grace along, for it is grace which allows us to do "all we can do". But, it is our job to reconcile our will to God through the process of continual repentance, which is truly and action that we must do. Agency is an eternal principle, not to choose ice cream flavors, but to either reconcile to God or the Devil. The Spirit can lead us in these important decisions of seeing God vs Satan, telling us truly "all things we should do" that pertain to these important decision.
It's been a slightly frustrating week. After the hustle and bustle of last week, we've been so quiet this week. We have two people on date for baptism right now - one for this month and one for next month. We have another six, yes six, people that we could put on date IF ONLY WE COULD GET IN THEIR HOUSE.
It's not their fault. There's a nasty sore-throat, runny nose, cough going around lately that's shut down a lot of our investigators and, lo and behold, even ourselves. E Davidson came down with it on Wednesday and he's been feeling awful even up to today. I got it a little bit but I guess I've been taught well. I drank a ton, ton, ton of water and I really only felt a little weak on fast Sunday. I think my headache was more dehydration than sickness that day. It's worth it if we can get in those six houses and put them all on date, though.
This last week we had two birthdays in our zone on Friday and Saturday. On Friday we went to Joe Morley's with the district and the zone leaders for the zone leader, Elder Wild's, birthday. Then on Saturday we went to Buco di Beppo for Sister Hermanson's. I think we've been there before? Confirmation? It's fun to get to know the district better like that. Elder Whipple from my MTC district is in my district here. He's awesome but has come down with a migraine ever since he got out in the field. Elder Livingston is a poly from Hawaii that's really fun to be around and shares my enthusiasm for how personable the scriptures are, so it's super fun to discuss those things with him.
The "month of perfection" ended. It's going to be fun to see the results pour in. I can't wait to dive into the charts they'll give us from the contact information to find people that are searching for a way to get a hold of the missionaries.
Have a swell week,
--Elder Chandler
Spiritual thought for this week - and it's an important one - is grace. Right before I left the MTC, one of my teachers told us we could ask her any question and she'd answer it. When we didn't have anything she taught the LDS doctrine of being saved by grace. She said it was the most misunderstood doctrine in the church. We believe that we are saved by grace alone, she said, and explained it. In my head I disagreed, wasn't really listening, and thought of what was the difference of getting to the celestial and terrestrial kingdoms - the covenants WE make. So that means we do have a part, right?
I kind of left that at the wayside until I ran across 2 Ne 25:23 and 2 Ne 10:24. One says we are saved by grace "after all we can do", while the other says, after our will becomes aligned with God, we are saved "only by the grace of God". I decided I needed to find out exactly how this doctrine works. The way to do this was to define "all we can do" specifically. 2 Ne 10:24 tells us that "all we can do" is to keep the commandments God gives us by reconciling our will to God's. In the MTC was caught in a trap of thinking that keeping the commandments counted as a "good point" and that we did something to get to highest glory. In Mosiah 2, King Benjamin rebukes this way of thinking. He says that when we follow the commandments, we're blessed so in the end that's a moot point. We are and always will be unprofitable servants. In essence with that statement he says we are saved by grace alone.
That turned my thinking upside-down. Keeping the commandments is the expectation, and not keeping them is a sin. Once we know of a commandment, we are then required to live it or suffer the punishment of sin. When we make sacred covenants, we add to that burden and have more required of us. It's the expectation, though, to make those covenants. The only thing we can do is repent. In the bible dictionary the definition of repentance conveniently fits my phraseology used; in the act of repentance we "align our will with God's". How is repentance made possible? Only through the infinite and eternal sacrifice that was the Atonement.
Because of the grace of God, everyone comes into life with 100%. We are to inherit the celestial kingdom. We don't, through our actions, qualify ourselves for the celestial kingdom. We disqualify ourselves from it. It is by accessing the infinite power of the Atonement we can overcome the fall and return to our Father in Heaven. Getting baptized doesn't qualify us for the Celestial kingdom - not getting baptized disqualifies us from it. As missionaries, our purpose is to extend the invitation to be baptized and let others use their agency to either meet their eternal expectations or to find that a "change of heart" to reconcile their will with God's is in order. Benjamin implores us to follow this mindset in Mosiah 2. All in all, neither is wrong. It's valid to say we are saved by grace along, for it is grace which allows us to do "all we can do". But, it is our job to reconcile our will to God through the process of continual repentance, which is truly and action that we must do.
This is the theory that explains it all. The base of everything is the Atonement as far as we are concerned on this Earth. I picture a massive (infinite) bubble on the top of a bubble chart that is the Atonement and Christ's sacrifice. It is from this every other doctrine stems. Every prophet without exception teaches the doctrine of repentence, of reconciling our will to God's, of the only thing we can do on this life that really pertains to our eternal salvation personally. It's from this standpoint I think that everything else will become more clear.
I'll save more that I've thought of for next week, but there is more :)
Just as an add-on to what I said and more about the spirit:
Because of the grace of God, everyone comes into life with 100%. We are to inherit the celestial kingdom. We don't, through our actions, qualify ourselves for the celestial kingdom. We disqualify ourselves from it. It is by accessing the infinite power of the Atonement we can overcome the fall and return to our Father in Heaven. Getting baptized doesn't qualify us for the Celestial kingdom - not getting baptized disqualifies us from it. As missionaries, our purpose is to extend the invitation to be baptized and let others use their agency to either meet their eternal expectations or to find that a "change of heart" to reconcile their will with God's is in order. Benjamin implores us to follow this mindset in Mosiah 2. All in all, neither is wrong. It's valid to say we are saved by grace along, for it is grace which allows us to do "all we can do". But, it is our job to reconcile our will to God through the process of continual repentance, which is truly and action that we must do. Agency is an eternal principle, not to choose ice cream flavors, but to either reconcile to God or the Devil. The Spirit can lead us in these important decisions of seeing God vs Satan, telling us truly "all things we should do" that pertain to these important decision.
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